Adventure Journal
This section contains notes on the adventures of the Party, beginning from the time they initially met to take their first contract together. Adventures in Albridge Following the Party's initial acceptance of the contract at the caravan camp, they began to make their way to Albridge, where they would stay for the next two weeks. First Arrival After three weeks of travel hampered by storms and bad luck, the Party found themselves on the hills at the outskirts of Albridge. The group was riding ahead with two other guards to inform the merchant that the caravan would be a few days late due to mud and broken cart wheels. As they crested the final hill and entered a ridge to begin their descent into the valley where the town was located, they noticed a large amount of mud and rocks blocking the road, and a man standing in front of it. This man kindly asked the group to leave the wagon and any gold, equipment, and other goods they had behind, and they could traverse the side of the ridge and continue to town unharmed. At this point, the Party found themselves surrounded on all sides by bandits. Rather than accepting the man's request, they fought their way out of the ambush, but not before learning that the bandits were part of a larger group, under the employ of the Red Fox, who had been harassing caravans for months. The Party made their way up the ridge and walked the rest of the way to town to meet their contractor. [[Baston Verel|'Baston Verel']]' and the Stockdale Mine' When they finally arrived in Albridge, the Party went to the Laughing Mountain tavern and met their contractor, Baston Verel, a strange and eccentric man with a penchant for starting parties. He gave them the next part of their contract: retrieve a small wooden box from his contact at the Stockdale mine, and bring it to his brother Horatio Verel in Karathor. The Party was given a month to complete this task, and they set out immediately. Arriving at the Stockdale Mine the next day, the Party fought their way through bandits, kobolds, and giant spiders before finally finding Baston's contact, who had unfortunately been slain, and retrieved the box from him. They also discovered hidden missives in the foreman's office, revealing that the town's general storekeeper had been working with the Red Fox to steal and move supplies out of town. The missives also explained that Stella, a barmaid at the tavern, was a member of the Faceless. Upon returning to the Laughing Mountain, they could not find Verel, and decided instead to investigate the general storekeeper and the bandits instead. Trouble in Town Following their decision to investigate the bandits, the Party decided to visit the town hall to see the mayor, Paytor Albridge, and inform him of what they had discovered at the mine. After reaching the hall, they met Duke Rizon, of the Sunlit Fields, who treated them with some disdain, almost ignoring their presence entirely before taking his leave. They then spoke to the Mayor, who after learning of the information they found, gave them a contract on bandit heads, and a wanted poster for the Red Fox. Before leaving, they ran into Duke Euchor, of the Iron Mountain. He was the complete opposite of Rizon, and told the Party he would be willing to help with any problems if he could. The duke was an old friend of the mayor, and the two instructed the group to return to them if they had any more information. The Party decided to go to the general store to see if they could gauge the storekeeper and find out if he was up to something. Sure enough, they overheard him speaking with someone about a shipment moving the Red Fox that very night. After setting up a stakeout of the building from an abandoned house across the street, the Party decided to wait and see if they could find anymore suspicious activity. During the preparations, they came across an elven druid from the nearby woods, who was also set on getting rid of the bandits, as they were disrupting the natural balance of the area. That night, the group spied the storekeeper engaging in some shady business with individuals who were all hooded and cloaked, and loading large amounts of boxes and supplies into a wagon to take out of town. After following this cart to one of the gates, they discovered that members of the town watch were also in on the action. They managed to get around the cart and set up an ambush in the nearby woods, hoping to take down the bandits before they made their escape with the supplies.